University of Vermont Extension
Department of Plant and Soil Science

To understand the origins of the Dutch bulb industry, you need to know
about Carolus Clusius. And you need to know about his friend, Ogier Ghiselin
de Busbecq.

Busbecq, a keen gardener, was the ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I to the Ottoman Empire (now roughly Turkey) in the mid-1500s.
Traveling to Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1554, he noticed many lovely
flowers in the Turkish gardens. Many were called "lalé" by the Turks,
which his interpreter likely mistook as being like a "dulban" or turban.
This was further corrupted as "tulipam" leading to the name "Tulip" of
this genus.

Meanwhile, Busbecq had used his influence to have Carolus Clusius appointed
as head of the Imperial Gardens in Vienna in 1573. Born in France in 1526,
Clusius had traveled widely and acquired medical and botanical training
by the time of his appointment. He had produced several botanical works.
It is to Vienna that Busbecq sent the first tulips and other bulbs to Europe.
The Fritillaria or Crown Imperial takes its name from these imperial
gardens of Vienna.

The first tulips were long-stemmed, red-flowered cultivars. They were
illustrated by the German naturalist Konrad Gesner in 1559, and have since
borne his name in the species gesneriana.

Although Busbecq introduced these bulbs to Europe, it is Clusius that
popularized them. After 14 years at the Viennese Imperial Gardens, he moved
to Leiden in the Netherlands. Here he founded the Hortus Academicus--the
first botanic garden to focus on ornamental plants rather than medicinal
ones.

In his gardens Clusius developed a private tulip collection, from which
he sold specimens for outrageous prices. Unwilling to pay these, yet desirous
of the plants, local gardeners broke into his gardens stealing many of
these specimen tulips. It is from these that the now famous Dutch bulb
industry developed.

About 93 percent of all bulbs in the world come from the Netherlands.
There are over 52,000 acres of bulbs produced there by about 2,700 growers,
with about 20,000 employees. The average bulb farm size is about
20 acres. Over nine billion bulbs are produced annually, one
third of which are tulips. These three billion tulips, if planted four
inches apart, would circle the globe at the equator seven times!

Other important bulbs are lilies, gladiolus and narcissus. Many of the
3,500 different tulip varieties and other bulbs can be seen at the world
famous 70 acres at Keukenhof every spring.

One other interesting bit of history, which occurred in the early
1600s, was "tulip mania." This sprang from the tendency of tulips to be
infected with a virus, resulting in odd yet often attractive colored streaking
in the flowers. These variants, called "broken" tulips, became prized,
sought widely, and worth many guilders (money). This led to widespread
trading, speculation, and then as most such fads sudden market collapse
in 1637. These lovely tulips have remained to this day, however, depicted
in the art of the Dutch masters. For this reason, similar ones today with
such streaking of various colors yet without any virus are called “Rembrandt”
tulips.

These are only a few of the fascinating facts on the history, origins,
lore, and naming of one plant. If you want to learn more about other plants
and gardens, an excellent reference is The Gardener's Atlas by Dr.
John Grimshaw. More information on Dutch bulbs can be found at the
Netherlands Flower Information Center website (www.bulb.com).